Forum Theme Evolution. NET Sept. 27, 2019

[leovinus]

[...]
How about a user option to reverse order the posts (most recent first)?
Often what I want to read is most recent.

This option is already available.

Go to Profile > Modify Profile >  Look and Layout

Then tick the "Show most recent posts at the top" box

Thank you for the tip! I've switched it on but noticed that this is not a "page specific" switch. On a thread with 80 pages, the newest post is now #1 on page #1 and not on #19 of page #80. After years of carefully going to the last page of thread followed by a quick flick on the mouse to go down that is a bit jarring

Personally, and to clarify, if this switch would revert the order from "earliest post on top" to "newest on top" on a >per page< basis, then the change would be ideal for me. YMMV of course.

The bonus point of having the most recent post on top of a page is of course that the Tweets on the right are far more visible. Now, I mostly scroll to bottom of a page where there are no tweets on the right.

Extra bonus points if these layout changes would be more "discoverable". Now they are hidden in the profile where I never look (mistake maybe If the top of a page of the thread had an "invert" or "sort" button to set the layout preference then far more users would use it I speculate.

Edit: maybe you could put the "sort" button on the far right of the header line, which now has "Author" on the left, "Topic" in the middle, and nothing on the right

[ulm_atms]

Hey,  Just FYI, but I stumbled on a weird render issue.  Running Firefox latest, if I click on a certain link, my fonts all change size.

font1.png is before I click anything and is basically what it looks like if I just entered the forum and browsing.

font2.png is the output if I click on the "6 others like this" link and then close out of the popup box.  All my fonts change sizes.

It only seems to happen on anyone's "X others like this" links though...almost like the popup box is changing something on the CSS side for that page.  If I go to another page...it goes back to normal font sizes.

As I said...no big deal...but just FYI.

[Ken the Bin]

Hey,  Just FYI, but I stumbled on a weird render issue.  Running Firefox latest, if I click on a certain link, my fonts all change size.

font1.png is before I click anything and is basically what it looks like if I just entered the forum and browsing.

font2.png is the output if I click on the "6 others like this" link and then close out of the popup box.  All my fonts change sizes.

It only seems to happen on anyone's "X others like this" links though...almost like the popup box is changing something on the CSS side for that page.  If I go to another page...it goes back to normal font sizes.

As I said...no big deal...but just FYI.

It's probably related to the fact that the dark theme (if in use) gets deactivated when clicking on a "others like this" link.  It comes back when refreshing the page or switching to another page.

[CJ]

I have a question about image attachments; I know that the preference is that offsite images be attached rather than embedded, but what is NSF's preference for images already hosted on NSF? For example, if I want to include an attached image from an update thread in a post in the discussion thread? Download and attach, or embed? The former uses up server space, hence my concern. I've also heard that embedded images, even for a NSF hosted image, might have resize issues on some devices with the new forum theme software, but I do not know. 

I'm not suggesting any sort of a rules change - I'm just wanting to know if NSF's policy on attachments being preferred applies to images already on NSF, or just offsite images? 

Thanks!

[gongora]

I have a question about image attachments; I know that the preference is that offsite images be attached rather than embedded, but what is NSF's preference for images already hosted on NSF? For example, if I want to include an attached image from an update thread in a post in the discussion thread? Download and attach, or embed? The former uses up server space, hence my concern. I've also heard that embedded images, even for a NSF hosted image, might have resize issues on some devices with the new forum theme software, but I do not know. 

I'm not suggesting any sort of a rules change - I'm just wanting to know if NSF's policy on attachments being preferred applies to images already on NSF, or just offsite images? 

Thanks!

Attaching instead of embedding was more important before the new forum theme, because large images would really mess up the page formatting.  Now it doesn't seem to be as much of an issue.

edit: My pet peeve is when images/videos keep getting propagated in a chain of quotes.

[Hog]

I have a question about image attachments; I know that the preference is that offsite images be attached rather than embedded, but what is NSF's preference for images already hosted on NSF? For example, if I want to include an attached image from an update thread in a post in the discussion thread? Download and attach, or embed? The former uses up server space, hence my concern. I've also heard that embedded images, even for a NSF hosted image, might have resize issues on some devices with the new forum theme software, but I do not know. 

I'm not suggesting any sort of a rules change - I'm just wanting to know if NSF's policy on attachments being preferred applies to images already on NSF, or just offsite images? 

Thanks!

Attaching instead of embedding was more important before the new forum theme, because large images would really mess up the page formatting.  Now it doesn't seem to be as much of an issue.

edit: My pet peeve is when images/videos keep getting propagated in a chain of quotes.

Agreed, I mean it takes seconds to erase the pics as you quote a post in order to avoid propagating pics. 

Still have no access to a Memberlist.  There was some noise about Personal Security which is non-sense, if someone didnt want their name out there, they'd use a pseudonym here at the site. So inefficient to find info sometimes, esp. from people who dont post often, like Mr Hale for instance.

[CJ]

I just noticed something very different in my forum display; the "like" button is back, and works!

I haven't had a visible, let alone working, "like" button in nearly two years (I'm on an older version of Frirefox) but now it's back, and works. Just wanted to mention it in case it means something to the developers, and also, intended or not, thank you.

[gongora]

I just noticed something very different in my forum display; the "like" button is back, and works!

I haven't had a visible, let alone working, "like" button in nearly two years (I'm on an older version of Frirefox) but now it's back, and works. Just wanted to mention it in case it means something to the developers, and also, intended or not, thank you.

Did you change anything recently?  Like ad-blocker?

[CJ]

Did you change anything recently?  Like ad-blocker?

Absolutely no changes. (and nothing, including the OS, Win 7,  is allowed to auto-update). I do run script blockers, an ad blocker (but I have NSF whitelisted, except for the one ad that's a moving GIF) and anti-trackers, a cookie nuker, etc, but even with those unloaded I had no "like" button after the forum changeover occurred. However, it's possible the "like" button returned a month or two ago and I just didn't notice until today. 

[dglow]

Did you change anything recently?  Like ad-blocker?

Absolutely no changes. (and nothing, including the OS, Win 7,  is allowed to auto-update). I do run script blockers, an ad blocker (but I have NSF whitelisted, except for the one ad that's a moving GIF) and anti-trackers, a cookie nuker, etc, but even with those unloaded I had no "like" button after the forum changeover occurred. However, it's possible the "like" button returned a month or two ago and I just didn't notice until today.

I've found that the like button appears as a social widget to many anti-tracking mechanisms, and required a more granular whitelist in order to work. If the database which drives your blocking auto-updates, that may explain the button's sudden re-appearance.

@Bergin, elimination of ads for paying members... please? This has been discussed for quite a while.

[Kang54]

Just a small suggestion: could the "like" and "quote" button be moved below each post, perhaps beside the "report to moderator"-link? As I see it, you'll always be reading/looking the whole post through, before deciding to like or quote it. As it is, if it's a longer post, you'll have to scroll up to "like", then scroll down to see the next post. As I said, it's a small matter, but I think it'd give a better flow.   

[Chris Bergin]

@Bergin, elimination of ads for paying members... please? This has been discussed for quite a while.

@glow <--- Yep, that's a wish list item.

[dglow]

@Bergin, elimination of ads for paying members... please? This has been discussed for quite a while.

@glow <--- Yep, that's a wish list item.

Awesome. It just kinda feels like there's a whole lot of great ideas that go to the wish list... and never return.   

[ulm_atms]

Hey,  Just FYI, but I stumbled on a weird render issue.  Running Firefox latest, if I click on a certain link, my fonts all change size.

font1.png is before I click anything and is basically what it looks like if I just entered the forum and browsing.

font2.png is the output if I click on the "6 others like this" link and then close out of the popup box.  All my fonts change sizes.

It only seems to happen on anyone's "X others like this" links though...almost like the popup box is changing something on the CSS side for that page.  If I go to another page...it goes back to normal font sizes.

As I said...no big deal...but just FYI.

Hey, I just realized that this issue is now fixed. 

I just want to give a shout out to the NSF web team for fixing this little issue that really was minor.  Your efforts are very much appreciated!!  I always tell people in discussions about different types of website forums that NSF's forum software is truly the best that I have ever used and the moderation is top notch.

Thank you for all the hard work!!

[Ken the Bin]

Hey,  Just FYI, but I stumbled on a weird render issue.  Running Firefox latest, if I click on a certain link, my fonts all change size.

font1.png is before I click anything and is basically what it looks like if I just entered the forum and browsing.

font2.png is the output if I click on the "6 others like this" link and then close out of the popup box.  All my fonts change sizes.

It only seems to happen on anyone's "X others like this" links though...almost like the popup box is changing something on the CSS side for that page.  If I go to another page...it goes back to normal font sizes.

As I said...no big deal...but just FYI.

Hey, I just realized that this issue is now fixed. 

I just want to give a shout out to the NSF web team for fixing this little issue that really was minor.  Your efforts are very much appreciated!!  I always tell people in discussions about different types of website forums that NSF's forum software is truly the best that I have ever used and the moderation is top notch.

Thank you for all the hard work!!

Likewise I noticed a couple of days ago that losing the dark theme in that same scenario of clicking "others like this" is fixed.

[zubenelgenubi]

A lesser item among the greater issues today (May 27 DM2 countdown and scrub):

I noted, beginning this afternoon EDT, that the Likes listing does not appear on individual posts.

The post Like/Dislike buttons work.

The cumulative like count for a thread appears.

In Profile>Messages>Liked, if I click on the Like message, I get the reply "No permission" in a separate pop-up window.

[gongora]

A lesser item among the greater issues today (May 27 DM2 countdown and scrub):

I noted, beginning this afternoon EDT, that the Likes listing does not appear on individual posts.

The post Like/Dislike buttons work.

The cumulative like count for a thread appears.

In Profile>Messages>Liked, if I click on the Like message, I get the reply "No permission" in a separate pop-up window.

It got temporarily disabled to help with the server load, should be back now

[the_other_Doug]

The odd Like behavior I noticed last night was that I could Like a post, and the Like link changed to Unlike, but unless no one had Liked the post before, the display of who had Liked the post did not include me.  It often didn't include several people, i Liked a post that already had 10 Likes, but when I looked at the list of people who had Liked it, only eight were listed...

I hope it's all fixed now.

[leovinus]

In the context of forum evolution, I see more and more Tweets from Chris B/G on the right hand side in the forum. Then there are NSF-live events on YouTube. To make all of that great content searchable, would it be possible to make one or two dedicated threads on the forum which keep an automatic mirror of all Tweets? That we can search for them in one place, i.e. here. Similar with NSF live YouTube. A mirrored link to past events in a dedicated forum thread would be useful. Bonus points for automatic transcriptions which are searchable.

Background -
1) Call me old fashioned but I do not use Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, etc. Checking all these different apps and places is too fragmented and I would value some (automatic) effort to keep all good stuff in one place, here, archived and searchable.
2) There is a precedent with a thread that copies all of Elon's tweets into a thread. Manual effort though.
3) If no effort to "keep it together" I predict that in 10 year we'll have 5 more social apps, fake space news, and 10 more locations to search for "when did we talk first about water towers in BC?".
4) As I currently work on permanent handwritten records from 400 years ago, some of which are available, predicting the fragmented future is easy and any effort to make the great content more long-term searchable would be appreciated.

Back to lurking and the Tasmanian documents of 1642 (Aussie's will know

[rocketguy101]

In the context of forum evolution, I see more and more Tweets from Chris B/G on the right hand side in the forum. Then there are NSF-live events on YouTube. To make all of that great content searchable, would it be possible to make one or two dedicated threads on the forum which keep an automatic mirror of all Tweets? That we can search for them in one place, i.e. here. Similar with NSF live YouTube. A mirrored link to past events in a dedicated forum thread would be useful. Bonus points for automatic transcriptions which are searchable.

Background -
1) Call me old fashioned but I do not use Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, etc. Checking all these different apps and places is too fragmented and I would value some (automatic) effort to keep all good stuff in one place, here, archived and searchable.
2) There is a precedent with a thread that copies all of Elon's tweets into a thread. Manual effort though.
3) If no effort to "keep it together" I predict that in 10 year we'll have 5 more social apps, fake space news, and 10 more locations to search for "when did we talk first about water towers in BC?".
4) As I currently work on permanent handwritten records from 400 years ago, some of which are available, predicting the fragmented future is easy and any effort to make the great content more long-term searchable would be appreciated.

Back to lurking and the Tasmanian documents of 1642 (Aussie's will know

Thank you!!!  I too am not a twitter user, and all social media is banned on my work computer.  For some reason, they do allow NSF and that is how I have followed live space flight for many years during the day.  It is extremely frustrating to try to follow live updates and see a page full of blank boxes with twitter re-posts...sometimes there is text, but seeing "There she is!!" with a blank box for a picture is very off-putting!!!

I have complained about this before and the they reply back was "why don't you follow on your phone?"
 1) my signal sucks at work
 2) if I wanted to see twitter posts, why bother coming to NSF in the first place?

I am a lifetime member of NSF in order to support having a permanent repository of space knowledge.  I feel someday social media sites like twitter could just go "poof" and be gone.  I get a sense of general laziness in all news sites that have become re-posting sites for twitter.  This site used to be a top-notch space news provider with excellent sources and photos.  I've noticed my enthusiasm for NSF wane as the amount of twitter re-posts grows.